world class waste
tommyWithin a year, the Ford Ampitheatre has gone from Tampa’s next big thing to a useless waste of money. The theater, built and owned by Clear Channel, has been a boondoggle. Summertime concerts in outdoor venues in Florida are not real wise to begin with. Sprinkle in a few broken promises and a sizable helping of deceit, and you got a white elephant.
The story in a nutshell: The venue promised to heed noise guidelines, and supported the guarantee with specific building plans. Based on those promises, the county approved the State Fair location. Clear Channel built the theater, but completely ignored the original specs. The place opened, but concerts were too loud. Both the Environmental Protection Commission & Hillsborough County tried to convince the owners to turn down the volume. Huge, ugly fences were built and plastered with banners and flypaper in a lame attempt to keep the sound in, which did not work. Clear Channel turned it down a bit more, but the volume in nearby neighborhoods is still over the acceptable limit. The EPC sued CC. CC fought the suits with a “screw the neighbors” strategy. That did not fly with Judge Holloway, so CC and the county are now in negotiations to come up with a compromise.
The volume now is so low, they could almost play in Ybor City. I’m no expert, but I am of the impression that music fans go to concerts to actually hear the music. Artists know this, and have no desire to whisper their lyrics (see: eminem show changes venues).
In theory, sitting on the grass listening to music while gazing at stars sounds like a wonderful idea. In reality, sitting in rain-soaked mud while nighttime temperatures don’t go below 80 under a hazy sky and straining to make out recognizable sounds, well that pretty much sucks.
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July 28th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
If noise is a problem, then they never should have gotten permits and permission to build there in the first place. But now it is there, and I think they do have a right to use the venue as intended. It’s too late to be like “hey, you can’t play loud music in that ampitheater we let you build!”
July 28th, 2005 at 9:36 pm
Sarah, I have no problem with music played as loudly as possible. But CC promised the design would ensure volume would not exceed community standards. They have not kept their promise.
July 28th, 2005 at 9:47 pm
This is sorta a big turn around for you Tommy. I had said soemthing negative about the Amphitheater at one point - just when the noise complaints were starting - and you had defended everything (wait and see approach, I take it).
You’re right that the CONCEPT of the Amphitheater is great…. But that location, and the company that owns and operates, is absolutely abysmal.
July 28th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
I really thought they would make it right. We have since found out the design differences between what was submitted and what was built. This leads me to believe they had no concern whatsoever for the neighborhoods.
July 28th, 2005 at 10:36 pm
Besides, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Amphitheatre could be shut down. Look at Pacific Amphitheatre in southern California, cited in that Times article.
July 29th, 2005 at 4:35 am
Building an outdoor music venue in Florida: Worst. Idea. Ever.
July 29th, 2005 at 11:21 am
Building an outdoor music venue in Florida: Lucrative idea for somebody. Pity on us loser taxpayers.
July 29th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
There is one thing we’re not taking into consideration on the discussion of what’s wrong with the Ford Amphitheater… We all know it’s violating noise ordinances and the WEATHER is lousy….
What about how lousy the LAND is?
Aren’t most Amphitheaters submerged to one extent or another? Built into a hill or canyon or some other type of geographic location that helps the LAND shield the neighborhoods from noise vibrations as much as technology would help? What we have in Florida is just flat land. Nothing to obstruct the noise from carrying on and on in every direction.
Tommy: when I saw the plan variation from Clear Channel’s submitted and finalized design, I just said “Typical.” Clear Channel is not a nice-guy company in the least.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:36 pm
what about other venues that play music outside, the amp. is not the only screw up in florida. Who allows a rock band to play OUTSIDE the St Pete Times Forum?????? At 10:30 at night on a Wednesday.